Refrigerating apparatus



Patented Oct. 29, 1946 REFRIGERATIN G APPARATUS Lawrence A. Philipp,Detroit, Mich, assignor to Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a

corporation of Maryland Application J annary 25, 1945, Serial No.574,479

8 Claims. 1

This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and, moreparticularly, to refrigerant evaporating units used in connection withsuch apparatus.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide an improved refrigerantevaporating unit which is adapted to maintain different temperatures ina plurality of zones.

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved refrigerantevaporating unit which includes a refrigerant evaporating sectionadapted to cool a zone to below freezing temperatures and a secondrefrigerant evaporating section adapted to maintain a second zone atfast freezing temperatures, said sections to ether being adapted tomaintain a third zone at above freezing temperatures.

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved refrigerantevaporating unit which comprises a non-flooded section arranged toprovide a below freezing zone and a flooded section arranged inconjunction with a second nonfiooded section to provide a fast freezingzone.

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved refrigerantevaporating unit which comprises a C-shaped section having a singlerefrigerant passage and a second C-shaped section separated from thefirst section by a partition and having a single refrigerant passageconnected in series to a plurality of parallel refrigerant passagesjoined at their outlet by a header.

Further object and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearlyshown.

In the drawing:

, Fig. 1 is a fragmentary vertical front view in elevation and partlybroken away of a refrigerator showing my improved rerigerant evaporatingunit;

Fig. 2 is a View shown partly in elevation and. partly diagrammaticallyof my improved refrigerant evaporating unit and a refrigerating systemassociated therewith;

Fig. 3 is a view in cross-section of a portion of my improvedrefrigerant evaporating unit;

Fig. 4 is a view taken along the'lines 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the sheet metal portions of one section of myimproved evaporating unit prior to bending; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the sheet metal portions of another section ofmy evaporating unit prior to bending.

n the drawing, numeral designates, in general, a refrigerator cabinethaving an inner lining member 22 which forms the walls of a foodcompartment 2 3. A door 25 is provided for affording access to thefoodcompartment. Disposed within the food compartment is my improvedrefrigerant evaporating unit designated, in general, by the numeral 30.I

The refrigerant evaporating unit 3% comprises two C-shaped sections 32and 3 3, respectively. The section 32 consists of an inner metal sheet36 and an outer metal sheet 38 secured togetherin face to facerelationship and formed to provide refrigerant passages therebetween.Aserpentine corrugation is formed in the inner sheet 36 to provide asingle refrigerant passage 40 which lies within the top wall, designatedby the numeral 42, of the section 32. A plurality of parallelcorrugations are formed in the outer metal sheet 38 to providerefrigerant passages 44 which are joined at their inlets by a manifold56 formed in the outer sheet and at their outlets by a header 48 formedin both the inner and outer sheets. The parallel passages it arearranged on the bottom wall and rear wall, designated 50 and 52,respectively, of the C-shaped section 32. The serpentine passage 40 isconnected to the inlet manifold 46 by means of a passage 54 and a numberof restricted passages 56 which are all formed in the outer sheet 36. Aninlet connection 58 is formed in the outer sheet 38 and arranged in opencommunication with the open end of the serpentine passage 40 while anoutlet connection 60 is also formed in the outer sheet and arranged inopen communication with the header 48. The two sheets 36 and 38 arepreferably welded around their peripheral edges and between thecorrugations formed therein to provide the refrigerant passages. TheC-shaped section 32 is supported within a U-shaped metal sheet 52 havingside walls 64 and 66 and a rear wall 68. The rear wall 68 is partiallycut away in order to expose the rear wall 52 of section 32 tocirculating air within the food compartment. Brackets it are attached tothe top of the U-shaped sheet 62 for fastening same to the top wall ofthe inner lining member 22 with the aid of bolts 12. The walls of the U-shaped member 62 extend above the section 32 and enclose in conjunctionwith the rear wall 52 and bottom wall 50 of section 32 and the top wallof the inner liner 22 a fast freezing zone it. The C-shaped section 34consists of an inner and outer metal sheet designated by numerals 8! and82, respectively, which are secured together in face to facerelationship and formed to provide refrigerant passages. A serpentinecorrugation is formed in the outer sheet 82 to provide a refrigerantpassage 85 which is arranged to extend substantially over the entiresurface of the top, bottom and rear walls, designated by numerals 88, 9Band 92, respectively, of the section 34. An inlet connection 94 and anoutlet connection 96 are formed in the outer sheet 82 at the extremitiesof the serpentine passage 85. A conduit 9'! conhosts the outlet 96 ofthe serpentine passage 35 to the inlet 58 of the serpentine passage 48of section 32. The section 34 is attached to the side wall 66 of theU-shaped sheet 62 by means of elongated L-shaped members 98. Holes I!are provided in the top wall of section 34 to enable it to be suspendedfrom the inner liner 22 by means of bolts I02. A sheet metal wall IE4 isattached to the open side of section 34 to provide in conjunction withthe walls of section 34 and the wall 66 a below freezing zon H0.Preferably, a door I I2 is provided at the front of the evaporating unitfor preventing air from the food compartment 2 from circulating into theinterior of the zones M and H0. An inverted U-shaped shelf H4 isdisposed intermediate the top and bottom Walls of section 32 to providea support for receptacles. This shelf is supported on the bottom wall ofthe section 32 and is preferably removable therefrom, as shown in myPatent No. 2,325,705 issued August 3, 1943.

Liquid refrigerant is supplied to the refrigerant evaporating unit 30 bymeans of a condensing unit I20 disposed in a machine compartment(notshown) provided in the cabinet 28. The condensing unit comprises asealed motor compressor unit I22 and a condenser I24. Evaporatedrefrigerant is returned from the outlet Bil of the header. 48 through aconduit I26 to the compressor 122. It is there compressed and deliveredto the condenser I24 through a conduit I28. The condenser liquefies thecompressed refrigerant and then delivers it to a small iameter tube I39which conveys the liquefied refrigerant to the inlet 94 of theserpentine passage 86. This small diameter tube I39 serves to meter theflow of liquid refrigerant in a. manner well understood in the art.Preferably, the small diameter tube I30 and the returned conduit I25 arearranged in heat exchange relation, as indicated at $32.

The liquid refrigerant entering the serpentine evaporated refrigerant isthen conducted through 1 the serpentine passage 40 in the top wall 42 ofsection 32. It is then conveyed from this s erpentine passage 48 throughthe conduit 54 and restricted passages 56 to the distributing manifold48 of the parallel passages Ml. These restricted passages 48 aid inpromoting uniform circulation of refrigerant through the parallelpassages 44. These parallel passages A l are maintained in a floodedcondition during normal operations of the system. Evaporated refrigeranis withdrawn from the header t8 connecting these parallel passages backto the compressor through the conduit I26 to repeat the cycle justdescribed.

The system is preferably intermittently operated under the control of athermostat (not shown) so as to maintain the (s-shaped section 32 at asufficiently low temperature during on oration of the condensing unit toprovide fast freezing temperatures within the zone 14. Then because ofthe improved construction of the evapcrating unit 30, fast freezingtemperatures will be maintained in zone 74 during the on-cycle andoff-cycle periods of the condensing unit, below freezing but highertemperatures will be maintained in zone Ill! by section 35 and abovefreezing temperatures will be maintained in the food compartment 2d bysections 32 and 34 together. Fast freezing temperatures are maintainedby section 32 during both off and on cycles because the flooded portionscontain enough liquid refrigerant at the expiration of the on-cycle tomaintain the heat absorbing effectiveness of the section throughout theoff-cycle. Section 34 is maintained at a below freezing temperaturesince it is supplied with the sam low temperature refrigerant as section32 during the on-cycle but its temperature is somewhat higher than thatof section 32 since during the off-cycle any liquid refrigerant itcontains passes into the flooded portion of section 32. The temperaturemaintained in compartment 24 is above freezing since substantially allthe cooling of the circulating air is accomplished by only therefrigerated bottom and back Walls of the evaporating unit, the sidewalls not being refrigerated. Accordingly, it will be clear from theforegoing that I have provided a refrigerant evaporating unit which isadapted to maintain different temperatures in a plurality of zones, and,more particularly, I have provided a refrigerant evaporating unit whichis adapted to provide a frozen food storage zone, a fast freezing zoneand an above freezing food storage zone.

Although only a preferred form of the invention has been illustrated,and that form described in detail, it will be apparent to those skilledin the art that various modifications may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A refrigerant evaporating unit comprising a c-shaped section having asingle refrigerant flow passage and a second C-shaped section having aplurality of parallel passages and a single refrigerant flow passagecommunicating at one end with said parallel passages and at the otherend with said first mentioned single refrigerant flow passage.

2. A refrigerant evaporating unit comprising a non-flooded refrigerantevaporating element having parallel refrigerated walls arranged toprovide a low temperature zone therebetween, a second non-floodedrefrigerant evaporating element and a flooded refrigerant evaporatingelement arranged to provide a fast freezing zone therebetween, saidfirst mentioned non-flooded evaporating element and said floodedevaporating element being arranged to cool circulating air in a thirdzone.

3. A refrigerant evaporating unit comprising a non-flooded refrigerantevaporating element having parallel refrigerated walls arranged toprovide a low temperature zone therebetween, a sec- 0nd non-floodedrefrigerant evaporating element and a flooded refrigerant evaporatingelement having a portion arranged in parallel with said secondnon-flooded evaporating element to pro- .vide a fast freezing zonetherebetween, said first mentioned non-flooded evaporating element andsaid flooded evaporating element being arranged to cool circulating airin a third zone.

4. A refrigerant evaporating unit comprising a non-flooded refrigerantevaporating element having parallel refrigerated walls arranged toprovide a low temperature zone therebe'tween, a second non-floodedrefrigerant evaporating element and a flooded refrigerant evaporatingelement having a portion arranged in parallel with said secondnon-flooded evaporating element to provide a fast freezing zonetherebetween, said refrigerant evaporating elements being connected inrefrigerant fiow relationship in the order named.

5. A refrigerant evaporating unit comprising sheet material arranged topro'vide two compartments, a serpentine refrigerant passage associatedwith one of said compartments only, a second serpentine refrigerantpassage associated in heat exchange relation with a Wall of the othercompartment onl and a plurality of parallel refrigerant passagesassociated in heat exchange relation with the opposite wall of saidother compartment, said refrigerant passages being connected inrefrigerant flow relationship in sequence in the order named.

6. A refrigerant evaporating unit comprising sheet material arranged toprovide two adjacent compartments, non-flooded refrigerant evaporatingmeans associated with the walls of one of said compartments only,non-flooded refrigerant evaporating means associated in heat exchangerelation with a wall of the other compartment only and floodedevaporating means associated in heat exchange relation with an oppositewall of said other compartment, said evaporating means being connectedin refrigerant flow relationship in sequence in the order named.

'7. Heat absorbing means comprising three vertically extending singleply sheets of metal in spaced apart relationship, refrigerant conveyingmeans extending between the uppermost edges of only two of said sheets,refrigerant conveying means extending between one of said two sheets andthe third substantially midway between the upper and lower portionsthereof, and refrigerant conveying means extending across the spacesbetween the lower portions of all three of said sheets.

8. Heat absorbing means comprising three vertically extending single plysheets of metal in spaced apart relationship, means extending betweenthe uppermost edges of only two of said sheets, refrigerant conveyingmeans extending between one of said two sheets and the thirdsubstantially midway between the upper and lower portions thereof,vertically extending refrigerant ccnveying means extending between thevertical edges at one-end of each of said three sheets, and refrigerantconveying means extending across the spaces between the lower portionsof all three of said sheets.

LAWRENCE A. PHILIPP.

refrigerant conveying

